1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to memory devices based on phase change based memory materials, including chalcogenide based materials and on other programmable resistive materials, and methods for operating such devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Phase change based memory materials, like chalcogenide based materials and similar materials, can be caused to change phase between an amorphous state and a crystalline state by application of electrical current at levels suitable for implementation in integrated circuits. The generally amorphous state is characterized by higher electrical resistivity than the generally crystalline state, which can be readily sensed to indicate data. These properties have generated interest in using programmable resistive material to form nonvolatile memory circuits, which can be read and written with random access.
In phase change memory, data is stored by causing transitions in an active region of the phase change material between amorphous and crystalline phases. FIG. 1 is an example distribution of the resistance for a number of memory cells each comprising a phase change memory element. The phase change memory elements of the memory cells are programmable to a plurality of resistance states including a high resistance reset (erased) state 102 and at least one lower resistance programmed (set) state 100. Each resistance state corresponds to a non-overlapping resistance range.
The difference between the highest resistance R1 of the lower resistance state 100 and the lowest resistance R2 of the high resistance reset state 102 defines a read margin 101 used to distinguish cells in the lower resistance state 100 from those in the high resistance state 102. The data stored in a memory cell can be determined by determining whether the memory cell has a resistance corresponding to the lower resistance state 100 or to the high resistance state 102, for example by measuring whether the resistance of the memory cell is above or below a threshold resistance value RSA 103 within the read margin 101.
The change from the high resistance state 102 to the lower resistance state 100, referred to as set (or program) herein, is generally a lower current operation in which current heats the phase change material above a transition temperature to cause transition from the amorphous to the crystalline phase. The change from lower resistance state 100 to the high resistance state 102, referred to as reset herein, is generally a higher current operation, which includes a short high current density pulse to melt or breakdown the crystalline structure, after which the phase change material cools quickly, quenching the phase change process and allowing at least a portion of the phase change material to stabilize in the amorphous phase.
The magnitude of the current needed for reset can be reduced by reducing the size of the phase change memory element so that higher current densities are achieved with small absolute current values through the phase change memory element. However, reducing the size of the phase change memory element can result in a “difficult to set” phenomenon. Specifically, it can be become difficult to cause an active region of the phase change material to transition from the amorphous phase of the high resistance state 102 to the crystalline phase of the lower resistance state 100. The reasons for this behavior are not well understood.
It is therefore desirable to provide methods for operating memory devices characterized by the difficult to set behavior.